Success Story: Matt Merlo, a student of Dan Langell at the Precision Golf Studio, went from a 12 handicap to Scratch in under 8 months.
Matt Merlo, who was gracious enough to let me put his story on my website, is an inspiration to anyone who wants to play better golf. I present his story to show anyone that with the right instruction, discipline, and some hard work what’s possible in a very short time.
Matt came to see me in November, 2008, expressing an interest in improving his game and wanting to take lessons. The golf season was over, so it was a great opportunity for him to work on his game over the winter. He lives in the Upper Peninsula, which is over a 6 hour drive from my teaching studio. The fact that he was willing to drive that far let me know he was motivated to work on his swing.
During Matt’s first lesson, I watched him hit some balls and asked him, like I do with everyone, what he thinks about when he swings. He told me he tries to swing the clubhead, but that he couldn’t tell when he was doing it correctly. He also had many mechanical thoughts going through his mind -- If his body was moving the right way, was he on plane, etc. Matt told me he was a 12 handicap, and that he’s goal was to “get as good as he can.”
That first day we worked together for two hours. My goal was to get him to understand clearly what it means to really swing a golf club. I showed him a couple of drills, and had him strike small shots into a net, focusing on the feeling of a true swing. We met again the next day, and I continued to try to give him a clear conception of what it means to swing, and what he should try to do when striking a golf ball. He had many questions, which I answered, and I always brought him back to the essential principal of swinging the clubhead. He left that weekend with a practice routine, and he promised to come and see me again in a month.
In December, Matt made his second trip down. We talked about swinging, and I again had to clear up some misconceptions he had. I had him practice putting, chipping, and small shots, always trying to swing the clubhead. When Matt wasn’t swinging, I moved the club with him to give him the proper feel. I stressed over and over again the feeling of swing - which is felt as an outward pull of the clubhead because of centrifugal force. Slowly, Matt began to recognize the feeling of swinging. He could tell through a sense of feel in his hands when he was truly swinging the clubhead and when he was not. As his sense of feel improved, I increased the range of motion of his golf swings. Matt left his 2nd two day lesson with a commitment to practice chipping and putting daily (this is all he could do at home because it was winter).
I met with Matt that winter five times. Every time we met I cleared up old programming and misconceptions that he had, got Matt to focus only on swinging the clubhead, and gave him the feel of swinging correctly. I moved the club with him over and over, starting with putting, then chipping, small shots into the net, and building the range of motion up until he was swinging full out with a 5 iron and driver. After each lesson Matt practiced faithfully, ingraining the feel of swinging properly.
In the spring, I met with Matt outside, at the range. I watched him chip some balls on the chipping green and he wasn’t doing very well. I told him again to concentrate only on swinging the clubhead. I showed him a few chip shots, and helped his confidence by telling him that with swinging, he should be able to chip the ball very near the hole almost every time. I wanted to increase his expectations. We worked on chipping and putting that day, and again he promised to practice. The next time we got together, his chipping improved dramatically. He could feel the clubhead swing and he knew he could get the ball close. He was starting to get it.
We met again one more time to work at the range. We started with putting and chipping, and then went to the range to begin striking small shots. We started with 30 yard 7 irons. I moved the club with him to give him the feeling of the swing - the outward pull. He began to swing really well. We went through his bag and increased his range of motion until he was hitting his 3 wood. He was striking beautiful shots about 230 yards out on the range. He had the feel. I told him he was ready to play. We had about 1 ½ hours left so we took a cart out onto the course for a playing lesson. Matt played 7 holes. With each shot we selected the best club that gave him an easy composure, and I had him concentrate on the feel of the swing. When he hit a bad shot, I asked him what he was thinking about. Almost without fail he told me he was trying to “kill” the ball. I’d drop another ball and instruct him to concentrate only on swinging. The next shot was always better.
Matt met with me a couple more times that spring. Every time I saw him he had a better swing. He practiced every day for 2 hours after work. I knew he was practicing correctly when he told me that it relaxed him. Swinging is relaxing. Most people work at practice.
Whenever his game went off, Matt came to see me. I would swing the club with him to ingrain the correct feeling of swinging the clubhead.
In the middle of summer, Matt called me. He shot even par on his home course. He said the amazing thing to him was how easy it was. I knew it felt easy because a true swing is an effortless motion. Centrifugal force does the work for you when you do it right.
Matt reached his goal of a scratch hanicap in a relatively short time for a couple of reasons. One, he was willing to practice hard and work for it. There is no royal road to skill, in golf or in anything else. Matt practices for two hours every day. But he practices the right things. He focuses on only one thing, swinging the clubhead. He works continuously on developing a pure swinging motion. He has the right formula, and the work ethic. The results speak for themselves.
Matt’s story is inspiring. Many golfers can’t imagine shooting par. Your goal might not be to get to scratch. But you can get better at the game and enjoy it more. Whatever your goals are, Follow Matt’s formula for success. Work on developing a pure swinging motion through a sense of feel, work with a good instructor, practice when you can, and you’ll make progress. There’s no limit to how good you can get.
- - Dan Langell